Rainfall
by forestoiseau
Summary: Ever thinks back to when she first met Ozpin.


Had she known that Ozpin would reincarnate as fast as he did, she would have prepared herself much sooner. It would seem that even after all these years, she still found she was not ready to see him again. It was nothing against him, no. It was simply that she felt guilt fall upon her heavily, slowly eating away at her conscience, ever looming just one step away before devouring her whole.

She knew how she felt and it frightened her. It always had. She would be lying if she said she had never felt the pain that accompanied her love for the technically immortal man. After all, in his very core, he was Ozma. The man that loved another. She knew, oh how she knew, that Ozpin was himself before he was any other man. Nevertheless, she wondered if he still harbored those same feelings as Ozma for the once benevolent Salem.

In the end, she chose to avoid it. The most painful route she could have ever chosen. She would avoid ever directly indicating her love for him, or at least she thought she would. She hoped Ozpin never read in to the deeper meaning of her smiles or the things she would do for him. Or perhaps, in some selfish way, she wanted that. She wanted him to read into it and realize, but only if he loved her too.

Evergreen sighed, her hetero-chromatic eyes staring, conflicted, at the still waters before her. She closed them briefly as a soft breeze tousled her hair playfully.

"It's going to rain…" Her whisper just barely caressed the breeze that seemed to carry it nowhere in particular.

She cherished the rain. It wasn't solely because of Ozpin, except that, as much as she would try to deny it, it was.

She remembered those days clearly like the crisp raindrops that fell slowly from the weeping sky that accompanied them.

She had been captivated the moment the first drop exploded into other droplets on the dust shops crystalline windows. Her eyes immediately searched the sky. She winced as yet another droplet tumbled from the sky and penetrated her ocean blue orb. Instinctively she brought up her hand to rub her eye.

Once she had relieved her poor eye of the aggravation, she opened both of her eyes, finding the world surrounding her under the mercy of a new phenomenon. She marveled at the small donut impact the drops created when they met with the river's surface. Opening her palms, she felt the drops pepper her hands in a steady rhythm. Her hair was beginning to dampen and before she could even blink, not a single hair was dry.

So this was what it was like…

"You'd best be careful. You're bound to catch a cold if you let this assault continue."

She was partially drawn from her reverie when his modulated voice intruded her enchantment with this anomaly. The minute she felt the absence of the wet sensation on her skin, she turned her head to find the cause.

She found a silver handle that traveled upwards and bloomed into a circular black fabric that seemed to repel the rain. Her eyes did not dwell on it for long, for she soon found her own clouded eyes staring back into the earthy eyes of the man holding said umbrella.

Realization seemed to dawn upon the man.

"This couldn't, perhaps, be your first time seeing the rain, could it?"

Reality seemed to snap back into place, yet Evergreen was not startled by the proximity of the stranger. She simply looked away and back into the sheets of water that pelted the ground.

"Am I that obvious?"

The question was posed on breathy tones too enraptured with the oddity of what was happening around her.

The man looked up, his naturally disheveled moonlight hair moving slightly with the breeze accompanying the rain.

"Well," He cleared his throat softly, "you're the only one not seeking shelter."

She supposed this was true.

"Even then, your eyes are enraptured. There is no familiarity in them, only fascination." His gaze traveled back to her rich green hair.

She turned to face him once more, only now taking notice of his facial features. His polished marble skin seemed to betray his unkempt hair. Her eyes widened slightly as she realized she had been staring aimlessly at him.

He chuckled, the slight crinkle of his eyes causing a pale pink to dust across her cheeks.

"Here," He offered the umbrella to her hesitant hand

She grasped the handle just above where his hand had previously held on to it before surrendering all control to her.

"I have a feeling you might be out here a little while longer. Careful to not catch a cold, now."

His warning fell on deaf ears.

"You're a long way from Atlas. Vale is a far different place."

Her head snapped up, watching him walk coolly into the rain before disappearing into a nearby store.

She examined the umbrella for a brief moment before she turned her back to the large stone buildings of Vale. It dawned upon her that she hadn't asked for his name.

Releasing a small breath of air, she leaned on the railing trailing the shores of the river below.

"Perhaps she would be able to thank him another time.


End file.
